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I'm planning on taking my shodan exam in january.. All this time people tell me that the exam costs 25,000 yen but recently someone told me that it has increased to 30,000 yen.. I need to know exactly how much it costs because I'm planning to pay for it without asking extra money from my parents so I need to plan my savings a.s.a.p..

can anyone give a confirmation on how much the Aikikai shodan exam costs? I searched with google but all I get is how long, not how much money it needs..

It seems that you should ask the people organizing the examination. They should know the current procedure, including the correct forms to be filled and the dues to be paid.
FWIW, I've tested a little more than a year ago in Israel by a visiting Japanese shihan. The cost was 27,000 Yen, including the examination fee, registration to the Aikikai and the issuing of a Yudansha card.
Usually dan examinations in Israel are held during a seminar, and it's customary that the examinees participate in all of it. Therefore the cost of a full seminar should also be counted in the total expanses of the examination.

The Aikikai have a scale of fees. In my case, I calculate the fees payable and send the money in cash. For the overseas organizations that I look after, the Aikikai send an invoice, which states how much they have to pay. This is always given in Japanese yen.

So,

Aikikai membership costs 4200 yen.
The fee for processing the shodan examination is 5250 yen.
The fee for the yudansha passport is 1050 yen.
There is a miscellaneous fee of 1000 yen and a stamp is put at the back of the yudansha passport at each dan grading.

This comes to 11,500 yen and the exchange rate on my iMac Dashboard gives 150 US dollars and 45 cents.

In my dojo, students become members of the Aikikai as soon as they take their first kyu grade, even the little kids who start at 10th kyu. So the 4200 is added at this point. Accordingly, for the student who received his shodan, I paid 7300 yen.

The Aikikai had a system for returning half the fees to the dojo, but in my case, when we did this, the Aikikai returned half the money. So the above is what we send now.
EDIT: The dojo could keep this half for their own expenses.

A fee of 30,000 yen seems very excessive to me.

Best wishes,

P A Goldsbury

Quote:

David Santana wrote:

I'm planning on taking my shodan exam in january.. All this time people tell me that the exam costs 25,000 yen but recently someone told me that it has increased to 30,000 yen.. I need to know exactly how much it costs because I'm planning to pay for it without asking extra money from my parents so I need to plan my savings a.s.a.p..

can anyone give a confirmation on how much the Aikikai shodan exam costs? I searched with google but all I get is how long, not how much money it needs..

I remember hearing a conversation in which the cost - universally the same, wherever you are - was lamented: the cost of living varies greatly across the world, and $100/$200 in one place might not be much, but in another, it could be a month's wages.

The Aikikai have a scale of fees. In my case, I calculate the fees payable and send the money in cash. For the overseas organizations that I look after, the Aikikai send an invoice, which states how much they have to pay. This is always given in Japanese yen.

So,

Aikikai membership costs 4200 yen.
The fee for processing the shodan examination is 5250 yen.
The fee for the yudansha passport is 1050 yen.
There is a miscellaneous fee of 1000 yen and a stamp is put at the back of the yudansha passport at each dan grading.

This comes to 11,500 yen and the exchange rate on my iMac Dashboard gives 150 US dollars and 45 cents.

In my dojo, students become members of the Aikikai as soon as they take their first kyu grade, even the little kids who start at 10th kyu. So the 4200 is added at this point. Accordingly, for the student who received his shodan, I paid 7300 yen.

The Aikikai had a system for returning half the fees to the dojo, but in my case, when we did this, the Aikikai returned half the money. So the above is what we send now.
EDIT: The dojo could keep this half for their own expenses.

A fee of 30,000 yen seems very excessive to me.

Best wishes,

P A Goldsbury

Are you sure you got that right Peter? I got my Shodan last year, and I vaguely remember it being double that, with half going back to the dojo. The amount that you quoted would be the amount that gets sent to Aikikai. I think...

Are you sure you got that right Peter? I got my Shodan last year, and I vaguely remember it being double that, with half going back to the dojo. The amount that you quoted would be the amount that gets sent to Aikikai. I think...

I am certain that the amounts stated are correct. I send the cash via 現金書留 and the diplomas come quite quickly. I mentioned in my post that the Aikikai have a system for remitting half the costs to the organization and you can see that the amounts quoted for the Danish Aikikai are almost precisely double what we pay.

In the Philippines, our shodan costs are exactly the costs of a Danish shodan. The federation gets to keep around 45% of the amount to defray expenses.

Perhaps the Aikikai should take this into consideration?: there must be significant differences in the cost of living, from country to country; so much so that in certain countries, only the rich few can afford to pursue, and progress in, aikido.
And that has to be a barrier to its propagation.

Perhaps the Aikikai should take this into consideration?: there must be significant differences in the cost of living, from country to country; so much so that in certain countries, only the rich few can afford to pursue, and progress in, aikido.
And that has to be a barrier to its propagation.

It certainly is, Graham. Every year we have a few students who beg off from the dan exams for financial reasons. Some dojos and teachers choose to help out with loans to ease the burden.

For the last few years, I've been the designated representative of my federation in dealing with Hombu on exam fees. So the effect of the high cost of dan promotions is something I see quite a bit of.

I agree that a it should be taken into concideartion to change the pay according to home country, but I would not think this to be very likely to happen.

On a different note gradings by recommandation is by far mor expencive than regular gradings, and as I understand it the whole bag of money goes directly to hombu dojo whereas half stays with the national renmei when it's a tested grading.

That seems quite odd. I hardly expect the paperwork to more time consuming for the good people at the hombu dojo when it's a recomandation grading, so.... why? can anybody give a hint?

Anywho... I'm preparing my 2. dan grading which will hopefully happen in late november, and comming from a fairly rich country it's not that big a deal to find the money. However once we get to 4th and 5. dan it's gonna cost a small fortune. This however is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about now that I realize that I am in a far better position that a lot of other aikido-ka' out there. I feel really sorry for those who have a lower income than what we have her in DK. It must take effort and a lot of hard work to find the money for practice and gradings, so my hat's of to you guys out there.

On a different note: How about kyu gradings... should they come at a price? in my dojo they are free. I'm not running a money machine here... however I am thinking about charging a small amount to pay for the diplomas. Any thoughts?

Anywho... I'm preparing my 2. dan grading which will hopefully happen in late november, and comming from a fairly rich country it's not that big a deal to find the money. However once we get to 4th and 5. dan it's gonna cost a small fortune. This however is not something I spend a lot of time thinking about now that I realize that I am in a far better position that a lot of other aikido-ka' out there. I feel really sorry for those who have a lower income than what we have her in DK. It must take effort and a lot of hard work to find the money for practice and gradings, so my hat's of to you guys out there.

Good luck with the grading exam - don't forget that nidan is the cheapest one to pass, as you have already paid for your Aikikai resgistration...

I guess the higher fees for higher grades might be justified by the supposition that by the time you get to 4th and 5th Dan you might have a sizeable handful of students whose mat fees will contribute to their teacher's grading costs. Alternatively you might (if you are lucky) be a senior grade in a large dojo run by a shihan, in which case the same may apply.

Quote:

On a different note: How about kyu gradings... should they come at a price? in my dojo they are free. I'm not running a money machine here... however I am thinking about charging a small amount to pay for the diplomas. Any thoughts?
Jørgen Jakob

In the BAF there is a small fee for each Kyu grading (between £4 and £10, if I remember correctly), and the successful candidate pays an extra £2 for the stamp in their membership book, although there is no certificate awarded. This provides a small (but not insignificant) source of income for the federation.

On a different note: How about kyu gradings... should they come at a price? in my dojo they are free. I'm not running a money machine here... however I am thinking about charging a small amount to pay for the diplomas. Any thoughts?

Jørgen Jakob

Well, in my dojo, the kyu gradings also come from the Hombu, with a diploma signed by Doshu. The cost is 1050 yen, which is about 10 Euros. Actually the wording on the kyu grade diplomas is slightly different from the wording on the dan diplomas up to 5th dan and this wording is slightly different from the wording on diplomas from 6th dan upwards. The differences hang on the Japanese verb used to award the diploma.

I am glad I don't have to pay for promotion exams. I don't even charge my students. It seems ridiculous to pay $900 for a godan exam---or for any other rank for that matter.

Man, I should have checked with you first .

It's actually not so bad if you break up the price over a period of the years that it takes to get the promotion and then compare it to the annual dues of other professional organizations.

The real problem is that the Aikikai does not function as a modern professional organization - it provides no services and no benefits, apart from being "in the club". Even the ranking is questionable, since there is no oversight or control.

Dear All,
No matter how you look at it in these harsh economic times the Aikikai fees are extortionate.God knows how any person in a country with low wages pays for a certificate.If the fees for a bit of wallpaper[the cert ] is a good percentage of someones gross yearly income is it not morally wrong for the Aikikai to charge such fees as befits a person in a economically sound country?[Is there any left I may add ???] There is in my mind a case for lowering the cost to such people.I would not take bets on this happening.Aikikai Foundation in my mind is business .It does not exist to be a charitable organisation in my view,Why not boycott the Aikikai here?A printed scroll does not make ones Aikido bettr or worse.Have a night out with thefamily instead with monies saved.Cheers, Joe

Dear All,
No matter how you look at it in these harsh economic times the Aikikai fees are extortionate.God knows how any person in a country with low wages pays for a certificate.If the fees for a bit of wallpaper[the cert ] is a good percentage of someones gross yearly income is it not morally wrong for the Aikikai to charge such fees as befits a person in a economically sound country?[Is there any left I may add ???] There is in my mind a case for lowering the cost to such people.I would not take bets on this happening.Aikikai Foundation in my mind is business .It does not exist to be a charitable organisation in my view,Why not boycott the Aikikai here?A printed scroll does not make ones Aikido bettr or worse.Have a night out with thefamily instead with monies saved.Cheers, Joe

Well they must be worth something, they're stamped by a very nice secretary in the hombu office .

The sad part is that there is really little or no benefit to being a member of the Aikikai aside from that paper. Now, I'm not necessarily anti-Aikikai, but they need to figure out a paradigm in which they provide some kind of real benefit. They used to rely on the loyalty of the instructors - but now most instructors have never even been to hombu, and doshu wouldn't recognize them walking down the street.

Well they must be worth something, they're stamped by a very nice secretary in the hombu office .

The sad part is that there is really little or no benefit to being a member of the Aikikai aside from that paper. Now, I'm not necessarily anti-Aikikai, but they need to figure out a paradigm in which they provide some kind of real benefit. They used to rely on the loyalty of the instructors - but now most instructors have never even been to hombu, and doshu wouldn't recognize them walking down the street.

Best,

Chris

Dear Chris,
Never a true word spoken in jest.However I am not too sure its Doshus fault that he is slightly ?isolated from the masses.I have met him socially a few times and he is a nice man.However in Cardiff [as an example]due to vast numbers I do not think there was much chance of him and his son to meet the people.Even at the dinner or visiting high ranking guys ?? from the current Aikikai recognised groups he got very little chance to talk or r have a drink with the people at this meal.In the evening the buffet [cost 15 pounds]composed of cold sandwiches, and the odd chicken dipper.The Hotel provided no seating , too many punters.After complaining to the management about this I was told the organisers were told that there was not enough seats.I and my mates exited as fast as our little legs could carry us to the local den of iniquity[the pubs ] where we quaffed a few beers at much reduced prices.The course itself was poor, like being in a can of sardines-too many people.
I am not saying this was Doshus fault -just how it was.Never again.I also got the impression the Doshu was bored to tears with the the demos.Cheers, Joe.
Cheers, Joe